The Siege of Ba Sing Se
by mr dood92
Summary: AU. Zuko decides not to help Azula in the crystal cavern at Ba Sing Se. M for Character Death.
1. Chapter 1

This is a little A

**This is a little A.U. fic idea I had banging around in my head for a week so I finally decided to put it on paper. Zuko decides to help Aang and Katara down in the crystal jail cell in Ba Sing Se instead of Azula.**

A Change of heart

The 4 combatants stood, Azula and Zuko facing Aang and Katara.

"Please I need you brother."

"You don't have to do this!" Aang said desperately.

A few seconds pass in silence every one staring at Zuko.

"You're right… I don't." He turned toward Azula and punched a fireball at her face.

"You'll regret this!" She yelled as she executed a low kick aiming for their feet.

"No I won't." Zuko said determinedly punching more fireballs at his sister, when suddenly he felt a hand clamp painfully onto his feet.

"What the…?" He turned around while Aang created hurricane force winds to repel Azula's attack.

"The Di Lee!" Katara hissed as tons of them marched into the cavern.

She summoned a tidal wave in an attempt to hold them off. The Di Lee summoned an Earth wall out of the ground and the wave crashed harmless against it.

Zuko ran forward and did a low kick similar to Azula's trying to make the Di Lee lose their footing.

Meanwhile Aang had been desperately holding his own against Azula. His winds crashed harmlessly against the fire and he had to leap out the way. "Uh-Oh!" He said aloud as she started to summon lightning.

He recovered just in time and created a wall of crystal. The lightning smashed into the crystal and it exploded in his face.

"Arg!!" He screamed as he flew backwards into a wall.

Zuko kicked out again to keep them from earthbending and Katara froze them on the spot.

"Arg!!" Katara heard Aang's earsplitting scream and turned around to see him crumpled against a wall.

She turned back to the Di Lee. More were pouring in by the second. She gathered all the water she could and sent it hurtling towards Azula. Azula turned at the last second, they were now icy daggers. She created a shield of flame in front of her a second too late, a single dagger sliced into her arm.

"Ahh!" She yelled as she staggered back in pain.

Katara ran over to the pile of rocks that was Aang. "Uh…" He moaned from under the rubble. "Hang on Aang!" She yelled as she tried to shift the rocks. "Where's Toph when you need her?" She said angrily.

Zuko was starting to get overwhelmed by sheer numbers. He took a glance over his shoulder and saw Katara digging through the pile of rocks Aang was trapped under.

"Hurry up!" He yelled as he dodged a rock glove. But there was no need because just then his uncle appeared at his side and joined in the fight.

"Katara…" Aang said quietly. He was fading fast and she couldn't move these rocks. Conveniently Kuei Bosco Sokka and most importantly Toph ran down into the catacombs a few seconds later.

"Toph!" Katara yelled before she could jump into the fight.

"What happened Sugar Queen, broke a fingernail?" She asked jeeringly as Katara kneeled by the pile of rocks.

"Aang's trapped under here I need your help getting him out." She said gritting her teeth against the insult.

"Well that's different." She said apologetically while the boulders lifted off of Aang's crumpled body.

Azula had recovered from Katara's attack, _"She wont be able to see it coming." _She had heard the reports of the mysterious blind girl being uncannily strong but had disregarded them. She aimed her good arm at Toph and let loose a lightning bolt.

Toph felt Azula get up again and sidestepped her attack easily. As she felt it crackle by she adjusted the ground under the Azula's feet so she fell flat on her face. She laughed at her to make her feel stupid then encased her in rock.

"That's the last of them." Zuko said quietly as the badly burned Di Lee moaned at his feet.

The group gathered around the fallen airbender and watched anxiously as Katara pulled some water out of the underground stream to heal Aang.

"I've healed all of the injuries on the surface, I can do no more." She said sadly as the water stopped glowing.

"We should put him in a bed or something." Sokka said after a few moments.

"You can all stay in the palace." Kuei said warmly as they started walking back up the shaft Aang had made.

"Wait! We forgot some one." Toph said and walked over to Azula, she then proceeded to make an earth cage and drag it back over making sure it bounced over every last bump in the ground. "What about the Di Lee?" Zuko asked curiously.

"Let them rot." Kuei said rather viciously as he continued up the tunnel.

"Uh…" Azula moaned from inside the cage. Toph dragged it all the way up the shaft and hung it from the palace wall for all to see. Sokka laughed at Toph's brutality to the fire princess while Zuko just sighed.

**I'll probably have the next chapter up tomorrow and maybe chapters to colors and Eyes of Stone Heart of Air too because I have nothing to do. Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Still don't own avatar

**Still don't own avatar.**

The Siege

-On the day of Sozin's Comet-

The defenders stood on the walls watching as the fire nation troops assembled.

"I'm going to try to delay them." Aang said and took off without another word. The rest of the Gaang watched him go. He flew straight towards the fire nation soldiers not bothering to make any cover for himself.

"He's crazy he's going to get shot out of the sky."

"I'm sure he knows what he's doing Sokka." Katara said unconvincingly.

"_I agree with Sokka what the hell is he doing?" _

"Aang's tough he knows what he's doing." Toph said a little more confidently then she felt.

Zuko just watched in silence. He had never expected to be on this side when it came time to take Ba Sing Se.

Aang felt the rush of the wind through his ears as he increased his speed. He would have to be quick and precise if he was going to avoid the missiles that would surely be fired at him. He saw a man loading a catapult's eyes go wide and knew he had been spotted. He sped towards the catapult and earthbended it into pieces.

A huge fireball came flying at him from behind but he didn't even flinch, he executed a quick roll and continued on to the next catapult. "Whoosh!" the sheer force of the hurricane winds knocked the catapult over on it's side. Now he had been spotted by the whole camp and the fireballs were getting increasingly hard to dodge. He rolled left only to be met by another fireball. He blew it out of his way and continued on. The next catapult he smashed with the very boulders it was going to be firing. The last catapult was far away and he could barely keep it in his sight because of the increasingly complicated maneuvers he was doing to keep out of the reach of the firebenders. He did a corkscrew to obliterate a fireball that had almost hit him. _"It's no use I can't dodge forever." _He went to head back to the wall when he felt a stabbing pain in his leg.

"Ahh!" He screamed as he lost altitude. He looked down and there was a long arrow shaft protruding from his thigh. He struggled to maintain his altitude while dodging the incredibly accurate arrows. Another tore through his glider right next to his ear.

With one final effort he crash landed on the wall. "Uh-Oh this looks bad." Katara said as she examined the injury.

"I'm going to have to pull it out Aang." He just nodded and gritted his teeth against the pain.

"Toph Sokka you'll have to hold him down so he doesn't hurt himself any more." They nodded and walked over. Toph held down his arms and Sokka grabbed his ankles.

"Ok here it goes." Katara said and she quickly yanked out the arrow shaft.

"OW!" Sokka and Aang yelled in unison. He had accidentally kneed Sokka in the face because his leg had jerked involuntarily from the pain.

"Dangit Aang." Sokka said as he pinched his bloody nose.

Katara got straight to work on healing Aang.

"What about me?" Sokka whined while trying not to bleed everywhere.

"Shut-up and be a man you meathead!" Toph said as she pointed at him but not actually looked at him.

"You know Toph it's kind of creepy when you do that." Sokka said as he tried to edge away from her finger.

"Creepy when I do what?" She asked curiously.

"Uh point at some but not even look."

"Oh… I guess it just happens." She said a little confused about why it would creep him out so much.

"Enough small talk." Zuko said and pointed at the now advancing fire nation soldiers.

Iroh had stopped meditating and was now staring at the armies. "I never thought I would ever be on this wall as a defender against the fire nation." He said with a laugh. "Destiny is a funny thing."

**I might do chapter 3 today cuz I am being lazy all day. I'm going to go write a chapter of colors. Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the wait here goes something… hopefully

**Sorry for the wait here goes something… hopefully.**

Destiny

"What the hell is that thing?" Sokka exclaimed in surprise.

"I dunno, looks like some sort of battering ram." Aang said looking at the strange contraption they were wheeling up to the wall.

"We can handle it." Toph said confidently, cracking her knuckles.

"Yeah just like we took out the drill."

A few moments passed in silence then the fire nation started firing their remaining catapults.

"Uh oh" Sokka said as one came hurtling right for them.

Aang jumped clear off the wall and airbended it toward the ground.

"Nice one Twinkle Toes." Toph said as he landed back on the wall.

"They're going to use ladders to get their soldiers onto the walls to distract us from destroying the ram thing." Iroh said as he watched the soldiers get closer.

"Then we had better destroy it before they get here." Aang said and spun his glider open.

"Don't you need our help?" Katara asked as he went to go take off.

"Hmm. Toph I need your help." He said after a second.

"What?" Toph said surprised.

"Hop on." He said impatiently.

"Aang I don't think I can ride on that thing again."

"Alright I guess I can do it myself." Aang said nonchalantly going to take off again.

"Wait, I'll go." Toph said wanting to be more important to Aang than Katara in something.

"Awesome hang on tight." He said and jumped off the side of the wall.

"AHHHH" She screamed as they dropped alarmingly.

"It's nothing we'll be fine." He said as he picked up altitude.

"Ok were here." He said after a minute.

"So what's the plan?" She asked as they touched down in front of the ram.

"Well the plan is simple, I think if we just have to knock it over."

"I don't know if we can do that." Toph said a little unsurely.

"Sure we can, You are the greatest earthbender in the world and I'm the avatar." He said confidently.

"Alright lets do it." She said and took her stance.

Aang took his and said "On 3."

"1… 2… 3!" And he heaved his hands up struggling against the immensity of the ram.

"Come on Twinkle Toes." Toph hissed.

The ram was up on its side but they couldn't flip it completely.

"Ok break time." Aang said and lowered his arms tiredly. They both stopped and caught their breath then Aang said: "On 3."

"1… 2… 3!" They made a last ditch effort and the thing topped over.

"Woohoo!" He yelled and then an arrow caught him on the shoulder.

"Agh!" He yelled and clutched his bleeding shoulder. "What is with these guys?"

"Can you make it back?" She asked as she an erected an earth wall in front of them.

"Yeah… It's not like I have a choice."

"Get on." He said for the second time today.

"You had better not crash." She hissed into his ear.

"I won't." He said as he got a running start.

"You know you're heavier then you look." He said as he struggled to gain altitude.

"Shut up and fly." She said as she heard an arrow whiz by.

"The soldiers are already at the walls we might be too late!" Aang said unhappily as they neared the wall.

"Get off." He said as flew over Iroh and the others.

She jumped off and landed on her face.

"You airhead!" She yelled as got up and dusted herself off but little did she know Aang was already flying away towards the first ladders.

As he flew over he watched in fascination the genius of the fire nation. The ladder had spikes attack to them that they could weld to the wall using fire bending. It would be mighty hard to take off the ladders without seriously damaging the wall. And as he thought of this the first soldiers had just hopped off the ladders onto the wall.

He flew towards the first ladder and airbended the soldiers off.

He watched sadly as they plummeted down to the ground. "This must end before more lives are lost" He said aloud as he watched the carnage of the battle unfurl on the walls.

Suddenly an arrow whizzed by quickly followed by more. "These guys's just don't give up." He said as he noticed the archer company that had been following him the whole day. He ducked and rolled to avoid the arrows but to no avail. An arrow pierced his glider and his already aching shoulder combined with the hole in his glider was enough to send him spiraling downward onto the wall.

He landed hard and got up in a daze. Fight was all around him and it seemed the fire nation soldiers had the upper hand. They had gotten a lot of their soldiers on the wall by now and they were starting to beat down the weary defenders.

He took a stance and airbended a few soldiers off the wall.

Then he ran towards where the others were.

"Where is Aang when you need him?" Katara asked no one in particular as she fought off soldier after soldier climbing over the ladders.

"I've got a way to end this." Toph said happily and strode over to the ladder. She grabbed it in her hands and instead of ripping it off the wall she metalbended the rungs off the ladder. That way no one could climb it.

"Good thinking Toph." Sokka said as he finished off a soldier with his blade.

"I try." She said and ran over to the next ladder.

Aang had been running for what seemed like hours. His shoulder was throbbing painfully and he was starting to feel dizzy from blood loss.

"Where's Katara when you need her?" Aang said weakly and ran on. Even with the help of airbending it was a struggle to keep putting one leg in front of the other.

"Ow! Watch where you're going!" Toph yelled as she got up. Then she realized who it was she ran in to.

"Twinkle Toes Katara was worried about you."

"Uh…" He moaned from the floor.

"Come on get up you need to see Katara." She said and held out her hand for him to take.

"Toph I'm pretty hurt I don't think I can make it back." He said as he struggled to stand. Toph picked him up without further question and said: "Wow you're light."

Iroh had been trying to hold off a section of the wall for almost half an hour now and still no one had arrived to help him. The fire nation soldiers were an endless tide and he could not knock down the ladders.

His back was pressed up against the wall as he deflected blast after blast of flames from his 5 opponents.

Suddenly the floor started to move and flung all five of his opponents off the side of the wall. Then Toph ran by with Aang.

"Don't mention it!" She yelled as she ran by.

Zuko was having a much harder time then Iroh for he had met a fire nation captain. He had single-handedly held off the captain and his men for the majority of the battle, but he was tiring and he could definitely use some help.

Toph did the same little trick she had used to help Iroh but one man was smarter then the rest. He jumped before the ground popped up and simultaneously fired a ball of flame at Toph, who obviously couldn't see it coming since he had fired it in the air. Aang blew it away with his airbending empowered breath then knocked the man off the wall.

"I saved your life and now we're even." He said as she started running again.

"I don't think that counts since that fireball was going to fry us both."

"Whatever…" He said weakly.

Sokka and Katara had been holding off the fire nation soldiers for what seemed like hours but was in reality about a half hour.

"I'm almost out of water to bend." Katara said sadly as they fought off another wave fresh off the ladders. The fire nation soldiers had the advantage on them there because while they always remained fresh from reinforcements the defenders were battling exhaustion.

"Where's Toph?" Sokka said nervously, they had said they would all meet back here to see if anyone had found Aang.

"I'm sure she's still looking." She said as she made a net of water appear out of thin air to save an earth soldier from falling off the wall.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed.

"Don't mention it." She said as she turned to confront the soldiers.

"Katara! Where are you?" She heard Toph yelling from further down the wall.

Aang had just passed out and the archers had found them again. She had laid him behind a battlement in the wall and was now desperately trying to defend him from the waves of soldiers.

"Katara!" She yelled again. She could not decipher who was who in this mess of vibrations. The only way she could tell who was fire nation and who was Earth kingdom was by their shoes.

"Toph?" She heard Katara yell and a familiar pair of footsteps running toward her.

"You have to help Aang I found him and he passed out on the way back and get down!" She yelled as more arrows flew up at them.

"Ok." She said as she healed Aang's various wounds.

"Are you hurt?" She asked as she straightened up.

"No."

"Uh…" Aang moaned from over on the ground.

"Uh oh." Toph said as she felt some one all to familiar's footsteps get up on the wall.

"What is it?"

"Azula."


	4. Chapter 4

Wow sorry for the long wait

**Wow sorry for the long wait. I was debating discontinuing this story. With school and practice I've had no time on the computer. Ok here's chapter 4.**

Chapter 4

"Azula!?" Katara yelled over the heat of battle.

"How the hell did she get out?"

"I don't know she couldn't have escaped without help. She cant Earthbend and her hands and feet were chained with earth shackles. And on top of it all she's coming right for us."

"I will help you." Iroh said as he walked out of a guard tower with a squad of soldiers.

"Awesome we can take her." Toph said and stood up.

"Uh…" Aang moaned and stood up shakily.

"I'm going to go stop those crazy archers." He said wobbling around on his feet.

"I don't think you should-" Katara started but he was already flying right towards them.

"He should be able to block them with airbending. Even the slightest gust during the flight of an arrow alters it course and Aang is an airbending master." Iroh said as Azula came into view. "Besides we have more important issues to deal with."

Aang knew he wouldn't be able to deflect their arrows with airbending or it would screw up the flight of his glider so he landed a few hundred feet away from them.

Predictably about 20 arrows came flying right at his head. Instead of breaking them or stopping them completely he just created a wedge of moving air so they funneled to either side of him. The mysterious band of archers' eye's widened in shock as their arrows missed their mark and fire again.

Aang deflected them again and was by now running toward them with the intention to trap them with earthbending.

They understood they were no match at close range and scattered, jumping into trees and trying to get behind him.

He didn't even check his unnaturally fast sprint and slammed a few of the unlucky enough archers who were still within his range with slabs of rock.

He dodged a few shots aimed at him from the left and took out some more of the archers. He heard another volley of arrows coming at him just in time and jumped. The arrows clattered harmlessly again a tree and he knocked down the assailants with a wave of his staff. The fighting continued in this manner for a few minutes and he saw lightning flash on the wall.

"ENOUGH!" Aang yelled and his tattoos began to glow and his eyes filled with the eerie blue light.

"YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR ME. FLEE IF YOU WISH TO LIVE." Aang said in the powerful voice of the avatar's long past.

A soldier fired an arrow and it hit the ball of condensed air around him and shattered harmlessly in the hurricane force winds.

Aang expanded the ball of air and soldiers started flying everywhere, battered to pieces by the sheer ferocity of his attack. When his friends were in danger no one would stand in his way.

The glow began to fade and the wind died down and he surveyed the destruction he had wreaked upon the company of archers. He opened his glider and flew back to the wall fear knotting in his chest for his friends.

As soon as Azula saw them she fired her infamous lightning at them. Iroh jumped in front and absorbed the blast. Azula's eyes widened in fear and Iroh shot the blast right back at her, no more holding back.

She barely dodged it in time by leaning back like she was doing the limbo. Toph rose a wall up and it hit her in the back of the head before she could recover from Iroh's attack and she fell forward unconscious.

Just then Aang landed and took a stance as if expecting a fight. "Where's Azula?" He asked flicking his eyes around warily.

Toph wordlessly pointed at the ground where Azula lay.

"Great I took care of those archers." He said and looked from one of his friends from the other.

"Where's Zuko?"

"I don't know." Said Iroh a worried look on his face.

Zuko ducked as a man with a sword swung at his head. He had accumulated myriad small injuries and was completely exhausted from fighting. He knocked the swordsmen off the wall and looked the wall. As far as he could see in either direction he was the last defender standing on this section of wall. Further down the wall the soldiers were scaling down the wall into the main city area. They were losing and he knew it. They were being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The fire Nation was surely conscripting soldiers from the colonies to fight in their army. The ratio of firebenders to regular soldiers was about 1 in 10.

_I wonder if Ty Lee and Mai will be here?_ He pondered to himself as he ran toward a guard tower intending to get off this part of the wall for fear of being overwhelmed.

Aang flew up into the air to get a good view of the scene played out before him. The huge city was being penetrated mostly on the west side while the east side was faring rather well. He winced as a few of the outer building's caught fire and burned to the ground.

He flew back down to where he had left his friends on the east wall. "I just took a look around there are soldiers getting into the city on the western wall."

**I know this is a bad place to end a chapter but I g2g to a regatta. Next chapter might be up on Sunday if not Monday.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Omg we came in dead last in the regatta. :(  
**

**Well anyway enough about me here's chapter 5.**

-Chapter 5-

"We'll head to the western section." Sokka said grabbing Toph's arm.

"I'll come too." Iroh said and started walking toward the west wall.

"I'll catch up with you guys." Katara said waving them off.

"You need another healing session." Katara said turning back to Aang. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and knelt down so he could heal his shoulder.

The blue light flashed and the burning pain eased to a dull throb.

"Ahh that's the stuff." He said as he started to stand.

"I'll catch up with the other you look for Zuko." Katara said and started running for where the other had headed.

Aang popped open his glider and flew toward the western section where he figured Zuko must be. He scanned the walls and noticed a lone man fending off a tight knot of soldiers by a guard tower. He saw more Earth soldier running toward him from the other side but they were going too slow.

He swooped down and a shock of fear went through him as he noticed Zuko was the lone man. He came at the soldiers from behind and swept them off the wall with the advantage of surprise.

"Thanks." Zuko panted. He was blooded and limping, he seemed to have many not life threatening injuries. A cut on his chin, his left hand seemed to be burned and he had a long but not deep cut on his leg.

"Look's like you've been to hell and back." Aang said as he supported Zuko's weight. He looked as if he was about to collapse.

"I've been holding this guard tower almost single-handedly for an hour."

"Almost?" Zuko gestured at a few bodies strewn around the wall around him, Aang could barely tell they were Earth kingdom soldiers. Bile rose in his throat as he looked around at the bloodied corpses. He looked away feeling like he was going to be sick.

"Katara, Sokka, Toph and Iroh are on the way." Aang said once he got his voice back. Zuko nodded too exhausted to speak.

Aang looked down the wall discouraged by another group of soldiers climbing up the ladders. It seemed that there was no end to them.

"I will take care of these." Aang said as he started running down the wall to meet this new threat.

"Whoa!" He yelled and ducked as a knife nearly sliced his ear off. Then he saw Ty Lee cart wheeling down the wall. He buffeted away another flurry of knives from Mai and ducked as Ty Lee nearly punched him in the face. Mai stood back fearing to hit Ty Lee with a knife as the two incredibly agile opponents face off.

Aang shot a rock at Ty Lee but she ducked and swung at his arm. He reeled back tried to punch her in the face but she easily dodged it. She did a number of quick jabs but he blocked them with his arms and hands. He feared her speed. She was the only opponent he had ever faced who had equal agility to his. He ducked as she swung at his shoulders and he tripped her up with Earthbending. She stumbled and he shot her back with airbending. She landed in a crumpled heap against a battlement.

As soon as Ty Lee was away Mai threw more knives at Aang and caught off guard one struck him in the chest. He reeled back dizzy from the pain and exhaustion of the day. His vision blurred and he fell to his knees, his life's blood seeping from between his fingers.

He remembered all the faces in Ba Sing Se, the people who were counting on him. He remembered the burned Earthbenders and lastly he remember his friends. Tears burned in his eyes. "No I will not- cannot lose." His tattoos flashed blue and his eyes opened. The air around him compacted into a tight ball around his form. He blasted the whole section of the wall apart that the now fearful group of soldiers was standing.

His vision blurred from loss of blood and he frantically tried to get out of the avatar state lest he should die standing there. But his emotions were too confused too jumbled together to acquiesce to his commands and he fell down a pool of blood forming around him.

"Zuko!" Toph said as they ran by toward a guard tower.

"Where?" Iroh asked looking around frantically.

Toph's eyes widened as everyone looked at her waiting for her to point out Zuko.

"Aang…" She said looking down at the ground.

"Where! What's wrong?" Katara asked frantically and shook Toph's shoulders.

"Aang is dead."

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**DUN DUN DUN!! Killed off three main characters in one chapter how do you like me now!? Oh yeah and if you didn't realize it before Ty Lee and Mai got killed in the blast… or did they? Muahaha aren't I evil?**

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	6. Chapter 6

To make up for my evilness I stayed up till twelve writing this

**To make up for my evilness I stayed up till twelve writing this. Enjoy!**

-Chapter 6-

The group stood in silence.

Finally Toph said: "Zuko is over here." And pulled on Katara's arm to get them moving again.

Katara patched up Zuko as best as she could and then the battle weary friends trudged over to where Aang's body lay.

He lied on his back in a pool of his own blood. A long knife shaft protruding from his chest. Katara wiped away a little trickle of blood seeping from his mouth and stared into his eyes. They were blank and empty, the joy and excitement that almost always seemed to be there was missing.

"It is a terrible loss." Iroh said and bowed his head in mourning.

"I should have been there I could have saved him!" Zuko said angrily.

"There was nothing you could have done." Toph said. "You couldn't even walk."

"I could have…" Zuko spluttered.

Then a low rumble started to the south. Sokka turned to look and there like some horrible beast of prey sat Sozin's comet perched on the horizon.

"I am afraid this may be our undoing." Iroh said as 9 huge fire nation balloons emerged from the horizon. They slowly crept toward the city oblivious to the sorrow that bred below them.

"Come on we have to stop them!" Sokka said and pointed toward the stable where Appa was being held.

"You guys go." Iroh said and stared down the wall where a single fire nation soldier wiped out a whole platoon of defenders. "The walls will surely fall without my help." He said and rolled back his sleeves in preparation to bend.

They sprinted through the streets toward the huge stables of the king. Zuko had been lagging behind on account of his injured leg.

"How much farther is it?" He choked out gasping for air.

"Not far I think." Sokka said as he rounded a bend. He jumped back just in time to avoid being incinerated by a blast of fire. Zuko stepped out "I'll handle this."

He took a stance and squared off with the three firebenders opposing him. They decided to attack in unison and launched an impressive blast of flame at him. Zuko smirked as he felt the fiery hot power of Sozin's Comet rush through his veins. He countered with his own blast of flame and the three were incinerated by the brute force Zuko was able to muster.

"Let's go!" He said and started hobbling toward the stables.

They flew toward the enormous balloons they would have but a few minutes before the balloons would reach the city. They could not let that happen or else… Well let's try not to think about that.

Appa landed on top of one of the balloons. "Stay." Sokka said sternly. Appa groaned in protest of his missing airbender.

Toph metalbended a hole in the top of the airship and everyone climbed inside. They ran toward the bridge taking out anyone they found.

Toph breathed in preparation then kicked the door to the bridge open and her and Zuko rushed inside. She ducked behind a metal sheet as a blistering hot inferno came her way. Zuko blocked a wall of fire and sent two pilots flying out of the balloon. The last one Toph shot out after his companions with metal bending.

"Everyone in!" Sokka yelled and ran in putting away his sword. Toph metalbended the doors shut and ran over to the controls where everyone was waiting for Sokka to tell them what to do.

"I'll take the wheel everyone else get on top of this metal monster." He said nodding at Toph.

"What are you plan- Just go!" Toph started but Sokka interrupted as he spun the wheel to the right.

Everyone scrambled up to the top of the balloon with the help of Toph and her metal bending.

They watched as the perfect line the airships were in broke as Sokka rammed into the nearest airship. The balloons iron encased hull was no match for the power of the collision and both ships started to sink.

"Everyone on Appa!" Katara yelled as she watched the opening for her brother. They were getting dangerously close to the ground when Sokka emerged. He ran over and jumped on just in time.

They landed on the wall. They could not afford to destroy any more of the airships for fear of them landing on the city. However the airships did not attack they just hovered over the city. Then Sokka yelled out in fear. Lines were dropping from the airships to drop soldiers directly into the city. The defenders were still holding the walls bravely, even though the power of Sozin's Comet ran thick in their opponent's veins. Huge blasts could be seen on the western wall where Iroh was surely holding out on his own.

"We are outnumbered, we cannot win." Sokka said his eyes downcast.

**Yeah so I'm ending it here because I'm completely exhausted and have to wake up early tomorrow. Night all.**


	7. Chapter 7

Lol I've been doing a chapter a day on this fic

**Yeah sorry about not updating over the weekend. Was busy.**

-Chapter 7-

"The earth king!" Zuko said in realization as the head balloon dropped soldiers around the king's palace.

"Everyone on!" Katara yelled and jumped onto Appa again.

They flew low and fast toward the Earth kingdom palace but Zuko still feared they may be too late.

"Stay Appa." Katara said as they ran inside.

They started heading toward the king's chambers when they heard fighting in a side corridor.

"I'll handle this." Toph said and dashed down the corridor. The others continued on without her.

They ran headlong into a heated battle in the main hall. The "Terror Team" as Sokka remembered they were called were holding off valiantly but they visibly sighed in relief as the group entered the fray.

Zuko kicked a soldier in the back and lit another on fire before he was even noticed. Katara withdrew the water from her pouch but held back. They would need this water incase someone got hurt.

Sokka quickly cut down a few opponents with his sword, his skill with the blade was unmatched after having trained with the best swordsman in the world. He had also honed his skills against Zuko in their time in Ba Sing Se. Sokka ducked behind a pillar before he was incinerated by a nearby fire bender.

Zuko came in and, wielding his swords, took him out. He had grown fond of using his swords to aid him in his firebending.

The battle ground suddenly fell silent the last attacker dead on Sokka's sword.

The companions rushed into the king's throne room. He was surrounded by 5 tough looking guards.

"Good you're safe!" Sokka said with a sigh of relief.

"The fire nation has balloons above the city! They are dropping soldier's right into the heart of Ba Sing Se." Zuko said unhappily.

Kuei put his fingertips together and looked upon them gravely. They were covered in soot and minor injuries from the day's fighting.

"There will be no easy way to end this conflict." He said finally. "They are behind our line of defense."

"Will you" He gestured at the group. "go out into the streets and expunge them from the city?"

"All of us cant cover that much ground." Zuko said in protest.

"I am well aware of that, that is why I will be assigning a group of Earthbenders underneath each of your commands."

"Alright…" Katara said rubbing the back of her head nervously.

Then Toph burst in. "What did I miss?" She said and ran over to the group.

"We're going to get a group of Earthbenders each to expunge the fire nation from the inner city." Sokka said simply.

"Sweet." Toph said with her signature smile.

Close to one hundred Earthbenders filed into the room and split into four groups.

"Good." Sokka said and examined his group.

"I'll take the Southern side of the city." Sokka said flipping into leader mode. "Zuko take the Northern side, Katara take the Eastern side and Toph take the Western side."

Every one seemed to pause for a second and then the hall busted into activity as every one ran out different doors.

-The tale of Sokka's group-

Sokka and his 25 man army ran down the main road leading from the palace to the South. They came across a group of fire nation soldiers struggling to get organized.

"Charge!" Sokka yelled and his little group sprinted toward the opposing soldiers. He saw a huge man with two maces and charged toward him swinging in a wide arc. The man jumped back and the blade cut off the end of his beard. His eye brows pressed together in anger and started swinging his maces at Sokka wildly. Sokka parried one, ducked the other and slashed the man across the ribs, he staggered back but attacked again. It was a light wound for a man so large. Sokka jumped into the air to dodge a mace aimed at his feet but before he even landed the other mace came flying toward him. He put up his sword to block it but his strength was no match for the huge man. The mace did not hit him but the momentum sent him kicking backward, his sword flew out of his grip, and he slammed into another group of combatants knocking down a fire nation soldier with a spear.

Without even thinking he ran the man through with his own spear. He looked up just in time to see the man with the maces swing at him. He rolled to avoid the blow and looked around frantically for his sword. It was behind the man with the maces. He swung again and Sokka leaned back to avoid the blow, the man swung again at his face and he rolled between the man's legs tripped him up and grabbed his sword all in one fluid motion.

He ran the man through and grabbed a shield off a fallen soldier. Master Piendao had never instructed him in the use of a shield but he could figure it out on the job. Besides his father used a shield. He thought with a smile.

He looked around a few soldiers were gathered around something. He walked over and saw an Earth soldier with a javelin impaled in his leg.

"You two take him back to the palace, every one else let's move on."

They marched through the silent streets silently mourning the destruction of the once beautiful city.

They encountered a few more bands of soldiers but nothing major. The enemy rarely outnumbered them and they had a huge advantage because there ranks were 100 bender except Sokka and the fire nations' consisted of mostly conscripted soldiers from the colonies.

**Aright I'm ending it here. Good night all of you wonderful readers… Or good morning or whenever you decide to read this.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

**Chapter eight. Enjoy! Wow I think that was the shortest author's note I ever left!**

-Chapter 8-

-The tale of Katara's group-

"Alright everyone let's go." It was getting close to sunset and she didn't relish the idea of fighting in the dark. Her side of the city would probably be the easiest to cover because unlike the western side the Eastern sides' wall was never penetrated.

They prowled through the city streets striking the fire nation troops down group by group. They had three major advantages. The fire nations' lack of benders, the soldiers' home field advantage and lastly the fact that the soldiers had just landed and were still trying to get organized. It seemed that the commanders were having trouble keeping control over the conscripted soldiers who seemed like all they wanted to do was loot not fight Earthbenders.

They encountered a particularly large group as they neared the wall. It looked like they were going to try to attack the defenders from behind. They were nearly 200 hundred strong. Katara sighed in frustration. How was she supposed to get 25 men to beat nearly 200? They were starting to climb up a makeshift ladder they had made when an idea struck her. She walked over to the 2nd in command Earth soldier.

"Do you think you could knock down a section of the wall on top of them?"

"Well It's risky." He began apprehensively.

"The defenders on the wall will surely be defeated if they attack from behind."

"Very well." He said and announced the plan to the rest of the soldiers.

"Now!" Katara yelled and the Earthbenders jumped out from behind buildings to attack. A huge section of the wall cracked off and 90% of the soldiers were crushed under it. The last of them were quickly expunged and Katara smiled at their victory. Then there was another crack could be heard from the enormous wall.

"What was that?" She asked nervously looking up at the wall. There was another crack, this time a chunk of wall fell off. "Uh-oh." An Earthbender said.

"Fix it!" Katara said desperately grabbing one of the men's shirt. "Together now!" He said taking an Earthbending stance. The men followed him and there was a resounding grunt as the platoon struggled to keep the wall from breaking apart. Katara watched the silent struggle as the wall seemed to move around readjusting itself into a more stable position. Then they relaxed with a sigh of relief.

"It should hold but it will need to be fixed later." He said and wiped some nervous sweat off his brow.

"Good. Let's get moving." She said and signaled for them to head down the road.

**Short authors comment short chapter. I'm just feeling uninspired today. **


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